Operation Windpipe

Police arrested as many as 553 persons in a large-scale anti-crime operation codenamed "Windpipe" conducted in Kowloon West Region from March 14.

The operation was mounted by officers from Kowloon West Crime Headquarters and four districts in the region, with the support of other government departments, such as the Immigration Department and Customs and Excise Department.

During the operation, which concluded at 1 am yesterday morning, police have raided over 158 premises and arrested a total of 553 persons, including 186 men and 367 women. Aged between 14 and 75, they were arrested for various offences involving contraband cigarettes or goods, illegal gambling, managing illegal shops, possession of dangerous drugs, pornographic articles, and breach of conditions of stay.

Inferior toys

Government yesterday recalled a toy xylophone that failed to meet safety standards.

The Customs and Excise Department called upon parents to return the toy - Music Series 12 Celesta Xylophone, Item No 565 - to the importer/retailer (at tel 2390 3337), who has a shop in Mong Kok and Wan Chai.

During a spot check by the department, the toy xylophone was found to be lacking in safety standard.

According to a safety test by the Government Laboratory, the material of the toy was found to have excessive lead and chromium content which could pose a hazard to young children.

CSD members

The government yesterday announced the appointment of Lee Chack-fan and Tim Lui Tim-leung to the Commission on Strategic Development to serve the Committee on Governance and Political Development (CGPD) with immediate effect until June 30, 2007.

It was also announced that Andy Ho On-tat had resigned from the Commission on February 8.

Lee, 60, is Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Chair Professor of Department of Civil Engineering, University of Hong Kong.

Lui, 51, is a certified public accountant and is Senior Tax Partner of the PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Trial run completes

Huaneng Power International Inc, the mainland's largest independent power producer, said yesterday that a 300 megawatt coal-fired generating unit at its Yueyang Power Plant had completed a trial run on March 9.

The company had completed a 168-hour full-load trial run at the Phase II section of the plant, it said in a statement.

Huaneng said that with the commissioning of the unit, its generation capacity had increased to 23,318 MW on an equity basis from 23,153 MW.

Huaneng owns 16 operating power plants and has controlling interests in 10 other power companies and minority interests in a further four.

TCL sales down

TCL Corp said its TV sales fell slightly in February from a year earlier, while its cellphone unit posted strong gains for the month after struggling for most of last year, according to company data.

TCL, whose TVs are manufactured by Hong Kong-listed unit TCL Multimedia, saw its television sales drop 2.2 per cent to 1.31 million units in February, according to data released by the parent company late on Thursday.

In January, the company's TV sales rose by 2.1 per cent from a year earlier to 2.4 million units.

The company's cellphone sales, handled through Hong Kong-listed TCL Communication Technology Holding Ltd, rose 17 per cent in February from a year earlier to 798,097 units.

Building contract

A unit of British construction and engineering firm Balfour Beatty has won a HK$2 billion ($258 million) contract to build a 70-storey office block in Hong Kong.

Swire Properties, a unit of Hong Kong conglomerate Swire Pacific Ltd, said on its website it had awarded the contract for "One Island East" to Gammon Construction Ltd. which is 50 per cent owned by Balfour Beatty.

Construction of the building of 1.5 million square feet (139,400 square metres) of office space is scheduled for March 2008.

Alumina project on hold

Plans to build a 2.4 million-ton-per-year alumina joint venture by State-owned Lanzhou Liancheng Aluminium Co Ltd and Hong Kong-based private trader Federal Resources Group have been suspended, a senior Lanzhou official said yesterday.

The plans were scuttled after the government of Northwest China's Gansu Province agreed to sell Lanzhou, China's eighth-largest aluminium producer by output in 2005, to State-owned Aluminum Corp of China, the official said.

Aluminum Corp is the parent of Hong Kong-listed Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco), the world's second-largest alumina producer, which this month outlined plans to spend up to US$1.2 billion on extra capacity and acquisitions.

(HK Edition 03/18/2006 page2)